Lumberton sticking with Granato at quarterback

Jordan Granato will again be the starting quarterback Friday for the Lumberton football team in its 7:30 p.m. game at Barbers Hill. Granato won a three-way dual for the job and started in last week’s 35-21 loss at Jasper. He threw 10 passes for 40 yards in that game, but that won’t necessarily be the case going forward.

“It really depends on what they’re giving us on any given night,” Lumberton coach Alvin Credeur said. “We feel comfortable with him throwing the football but we like to run it if we can.”

Granato made the transition to quarterback this season after playing wide receiver last year. He was the second leading receiver last season with 22 receptions for 296 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Lance Pace was last year’s leader with 31 catches for 490 yards and six touchdowns.

The Raiders certainly found production in the run game as seven players combined for 230 rush yards. Granato led the way with 60 yards on 13 rushes. Josh Watson had 57 yards on six runs and Clay Choate finished with 53 yards on 11 runs.

“We’ve got some kids capable of running the football and we’ve got some linemen that we feel good about,” Credeur said. “We just feel like that helps our defense. It keeps the defense off the field if we can hold the ball. But if you give us the pass we’ll throw it.”

Expect a different game for Lumberton defensively, though. The Raiders faced a Jasper team that likes to spread the field, and they gave up four rushing touchdowns. Barbers Hill runs an option-style offense.

“It changes our defense quite a bit because everybody has an option responsibility they have to take care of,” Credeur said. “They force you do be disciplined on the defensive side of the ball.

“They’re very disciplined. They’re an option team so they’re counting on you to mess up and make mistakes. They’re going to take what you give them and they’re going to try to make it a blood bath.”